Hello, dear reader.

Just a quick note to say that deliveries of gorgeous flowers from Flowers HQ to all our UK destinations (and indeed to all the European destinations that we cover) will NOT be disrupted by the Royal Mail strikes now or in the future.

Our deliveries, whether they’re made by our own full time drivers (such as Bart, pictured below with our 35 red, orange and yellow roses bouquet – on “Special Offer” at time of writing, bargain fans) or by one of  our two partners, are totally independent of the Royal Mail network so will be entirely unaffected by the strikes, however long they last.

Bart with 35 Red, Orange & Yellow Roses

Here’s hoping that the dispute is soon resolved to the satisfaction of both sides, and that ecommerce and online confidence get back to normal quickly; there’s no doubt that the words “postal strike” do strike (excuse the pun) a bit of fear into heart of consumer confidence and that’s good for no one.

Anyway, whilst the nation awaits a (hopefully) speedy resolution, we’ll keep doing what we do best.  Making beautiful bouquets of stunningly fresh flowers, as demonstrated by Judith, who’s also our head weddings florist, here:

Judith Luxury White Bouquet

Some more normal flowery posting next week (we know we’ve been a bit quiet – we’ve been busy beavering away on exciting projects!). More to follow.

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Happy Birthday to us, Happy Birthday to us, Happy Birthday Arena Flowers, Happy Birthday to us! Yes, believe it or not but Arena Flowers turns 3 years young today – and to celebrate, our Head Florist Andrew has created us this super-dooper birthday cake made from flowers!

Consisting of our ethically sourced Grand Prix roses, our signature Cherry Brandy roses, yellow and orange spray chrysanthemums, eucalyptus and creamy white hydrangea (all topped off with oranges, limes and kiwi fruit, making this a truly edible cake!), a celebratory flower cake has now become a tradition at Flowers HQ since our 1st birthday back in 2007.

Of course, there’ve been a lot of changes since those early days of Arena Flowers, and these ‘Then and Now’ pictures tell only half the story and make an interesting trip down memory lane:

Since our last birthday we have vastly expanded our product range and bespoke portfolio, partnered with an increasing number of charities and expanded across Europe with our international sites. And that’s all in just the past year!

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank you, our loyal customer base and friends for your continued support, custom and feedback to enable us to expand and establish ourselves as the UK’s leading, fastest-growing online florist in the UK and beyond…

If you’d like to learn more about how it all began, you may like to read this, this and this blog post.

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A quick ‘Pop Quiz’ for you: What do Jon Bon Jovi, Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, Steffi Graf, Jodie Foster and Tiger Woods (pictured, right) all have in common? Apart from probably having a few bob to their names, they are all reported to be famous hay fever sufferers and/or allergic to flowers.

With an estimated 20% of the UK population suffering from hay fever this summer, watch any weather report from now through to September and you’ll see the emphasis increasing on the ‘Pollen Count’ as the allergy season progresses and airborne allergens attack their hypersensitive victims. We all know somebody who suffers from hay fever, and you may even have thought twice about buying flowers for them over the years.

But why should a seasonal dose of rhinitis stop you from receiving or indeed sending flowers? Truth is, if their allergies are particularly severe, many flowers are going to affect the recipient negatively but, in general, the more dangerous flowers are the ones with the most pollen. So a good guideline for sending flowers to a someone who may potentially explode into an itching, weeping, snotty mess is to avoid choosing flowers that have visible pollen.

Flower No-No’s(e)

Asiatic and Longiflorum Lilies are some of the most dangerous flowers for allergy sufferers, as parts of them are covered in powdery pollen. Songstresses Tina Arena and Britney Spears (pictured, left) are both alleged to have a lily allergy.  As the story goes, knowing of her allergy,  chart rival Pink once sent Britney a bouquet of lilies when they were feuding.

However, Lilies can be a good choice for allergy sufferers, as it is easy to simply remove the stems of pollen from each flower. Just try to find a non-allergic chum to do this particular job, as it will probably have the most robust nose and eyes and running at the earliest opportunity!

Another type of flower that is particularly bad for allergy sufferers is tree flowers / blossom. When choosing a spring flower arrangement, be careful not to include almond, cherry, apple, or any other kind of tree blossom.

Top Flowers for Allergy Sufferers

Andrew, our Head Florist here at Flowers HQ recommends chrysanthemums and gerberas, with new hybrids coming onto the market bred so that the parts of the flower that used to produce pollen now produce extra petals. But watch out for regular chrysanthemums and daisies as they can be highly allergic.

Another great choice for the allergy sufferer is roses. Not only are roses the most popular cut flower to send, modern roses used in floristry don’t have much of a negative effect on allergies. The reason for this is that their pollen is too large in size to be able to become airborne and truly infiltrate the respiratory system. To allergy-proof your bouquet arrangement, choose roses with little or no smell as these will contain the least pollen.

One of the best kinds of flowers for allergy sufferers are orchids and exotic flowers. Very few types of orchids cause any pollen-related allergies, and so are quite safe for those allergic to most flowers. It is important to note, though, that some orchids may cause a slight skin rash on sensitive individuals.

If in doubt, do contact us first before placing our order.

Hypo-Allergic Wedding Flower Tips

Traditional bridal gowns don’t normally include pockets for hankies, so the last thing a bride needs are snail trails up her lace sleeves from a runny nose. If the bride or groom is known to suffer pollen allergies, here are some simple tips to keep in mind when choosing wedding flowers which will help minimise hay fever symptoms:

1. Wedding Venues
   The best strategy is to avoid airborne allergens completely by holding your wedding ceremony indoors during the peak allergy season, especially if the main culprits are tree and grass pollen. So, no posing around in country meadows for those arty post-ceremony wedding photos, then!
2. Wedding Flowers
   Allergies to flowers are mainly due to their pollen count rather than fragrance.  Flowers begin to release pollen due to the aging process, so using Arena Flowers, the freshest flowers available, will prevent this problem. As for bridal bouquets, buttonholes, and other wedding flower arrangements, there are many flowers that don’t trigger severe allergies (see above for some suggestions).
3. Other Wedding Day Triggers
   Although many people may not realise it, hay fever symptoms do not always come from allergic reactions, but instead can be caused by everyday non-allergic triggers — and not just during the allergy seasons but at any time of the year.  So beware of perfumes and hairspray, sudden changes in temperature and even cooking odours.

Allergy-Free Artificial Flowers

If you want an absolutely 100% allergy-proof alternative for hay fever sufferers, then artificial flowers are the product of choice. No-nonsense and low maintenance, we are pleased to announce the launch of our new Artificial Flowers section added to ArenaFlowers.com — due to popular demand.

We will be adding more flowers to this section throughout the year, so let us know which artificial flowers you would like to see in the future.

Click to see our full range of allergy-free artificial flowers.

By following some of these simple guidelines, we hope you enjoy a pain-free summer this year, and don’t forget to consult a GP or pharmacist if symptoms persist!

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It’s nearly a week since Valentine’s Day and like previous years, this year too was manic with customers rushing to send flowers to their loved ones. Despite all the economic gloom and the discomforting worries about how we would compare our sales to previous years, sales were surprisingly strong adding to the notion that love conquers everything. It seems like the Cupid’s arrows were right on target and fortunately for us, we were well equipped to counter the minor irritants such as combating fraudulent orders, managing an external fleet of drivers & couriers, and responding to customer queries and concerns to ensure that flowers were delivered to recipients on time. Without delving too deep into numbers, we can assure you that there were many more happy hearts receiving flowers sent from Arena Flowers Valentine’s range.

Last year, post Valentine, we had showcased behind the scenes activities of the hardworking team of flower fanatics at the Flowers HQ, but thanks to the new micro-blogging / social networking phenomenon called Twitter, everything was posted in real time this year. It was definitely fun posting pictures from phones when loading flowers to the delivery vans and driving to deliver them. Anyway, to cut the story short, for all those who didn’t follow us on Twitter, here’s a photoblog of the team, flowers, vans, and more…republished from what was posted on Arena Flowers Twitter Account.

In the beginning there was love…and balloons

Our very own Willy Wonka…Bill Keeling, MD, Prestat Chocolates, our exclusive chocolates partner

David and Goliath getting ready for the Valentine duel…Arena Flowers Delivery Van -Vs- our delivery partner’s truck

The Arena love machine kicks in, but let us not forget those with a birthday.

Love is in the air. Roughly 8’6” in the air.

Blast from the past – From I Love You Balloons to Heart of Chocolates

The One – The flower arrangement we mean…

And love is all around us…

Fraud Ninjas…

Men (& Women) at work…The Arena Flowers Assembly Line

Fighting Fraud With Apples

Trailer Attack at the Flowers HQ

Nick and the Boxes of Love

Be My Valentine – Will & his Co-Pilot

That’ll be all unfortunately, although we have plenty more on our Twitter account. If you liked our team and our flowers, please feel free to read our previous Valentine’s day post here. In case you are already on Twitter, and have been unaware about our Twitter account, please follow Arena Flowers here.

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The big day is just round the corner and, given the “interesting” economic environment we find ourselves in, we thought we’d share a few top tips to help Valentine’s Day lovers get the most out of their money and avoid some obvious pitfalls.

1. What does she actually want? A survey by a US florist found that 76% of women didn’t want red roses for Valentine’s Day.  The favoured option was a mixed bouquet, apparently.

   

2. Make her look good – send flowers to her at work: Valentine’s Day is on a Saturday this year.  That’s handy for us flower people (less traffic for our drivers) and for couples (as they can spend the whole day together).  On the other hand, part of the the fun of sending Valentine’s flowers is the girl (or boy!) receiving them at their workplace and being the envy of their colleagues.  There are definitely brownie points to be won with a lucky Friday 13th workplace delivery.
3. Save money part 1 – Avoid red flowers: Prices for all red flowers jump for Valentine’s, irrespective of the flower variety.  Pink flowers’ prices also go up, but not by nearly as much.  Other colours are far more reasonable – a white rose bouquet, for instance, symbolises young love so is entirely appropriate to send on Valentine’s and our mass of white roses is far more affordable than the mass of red roses.
4. Be fun – laughter is the best aphrodisiac: Add a photo in our checkout and we’ll print it and send it with your flowers.  You can also record a funny / romantic Valentine’s video message to send to the object of your desire.   Lots of people make their flower deliveries more personal using these low cost but high impact options. After all, they’re trying to outdo the other suitors who are probably just sending champagne, chocolates, balloons, teddies or maybe an “I Love You” card (you can send all such gifts with Arena too, of course).
5. All red roses are not created equal: Our red roses are, frankly, better than 99% of red roses out there. Not boasting, just being honest really.  They are long-stemmed, Grand Prix red roses. They come from one of the top three rose growers in Holland.  They’re not the cheapest.  But they are very very good.  We totally understand that some people don’t want to spend that much on roses, hence suggesting alternative Valentine’s flowers (see next tip) and gifts. But, if you absolutely, positively must have red roses, then ours are the best. We’ve bought a lot fewer this year (60% less than last year) and we agreed a deal way in advance in order to get a great price.  When the stems we’ve bought run out, they’ve run out.  That’s it.  We aren’t going to buy any more.  We expect our red roses to have sold out by by the 11th or 12th Feb after which time, we’ll only be selling other varieties of flowers.
6. Save money part 2 – Avoid roses altogether: Red roses prices go through the roof for Valentine’s, with the price of a red rose stem often increasing by 500%.  Whilst other varieties also rise at this time, you will get a far better deal if you buy an arrangement featuring a different variety, such as a pink lily bouquet or a 100 tulips bouquet (100 tulips for less than 24 red roses makes a lot of economic sense, plus the tulips will grow in the vase and create an amazing effect over the following days).  Alternatively, keep the number of red roses in the arrangement low, as in our Valentine’s The One.
7. You get what you pay for, so be careful: “If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”  If you buy supermarket flowers, you’ll get supermarket flowers.  If one of our competitors sends you an offer for a dozen red roses for £20 including delivery (which some are doing), then read the small print.  They probably won’t guarantee the day of delivery (not ideal for Valentine’s!) and the rose heads are likely to be the size of a half-eaten M&M.  There are lots of other marketing ploys out there plus the big relay companies charge hefty commissions too.  We avoid any of that rubbish and just focus on doing a great job and saving costs for customers wherever we can.

   

8. Wow her in the kitchen: Our friends over at Jamie Oliver’s site have put up loads of good ideas for Valentine’s meals and home cooking and thoughts on how to get round credit crunchiness.  We suspect turkey twizzlers won’t be on the menu though. Or, if you like being all web 2.0 and user-generated, you might want to head over to MyDish.co.uk, a friendly site for food ideas and recipes (you could even win some Arena Flowers there).
9. Bonus 9th tip – Send a hint: If you’re expecting flowers or gifts from someone and don’t want them to send you the usual rubbish, then send them a hint.  There’s a “Send a Hint” button on every product page which allows you to send a snazzy email with a picture of the flowers you want plus your message. You can choose to send the hint anonymously or add your name.  If do send anonymously, be prepared for a nasty surprise – your partner might send the flowers to their other girlfriend/boyfriend!

Hope some of that was helpful and or interesting.  Now it’s up to us to get down to work and get ready for the big day.  It’s going to be unbeliveably busy – here are some pics of Flowers HQ at Valentine’s 2008.  We’ll add some more pics once the big day has been and gone!  Hope Valentine’s goes well for you!

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The Arena Weddings arm of Arena Flowers has been around for just over a year now, and what a better way to celebrate our first twelve months than to take some examples of our beautiful fresh wedding flowers on the road.

The enquiry from Marika, organiser of the Think Pink Wedding Show came late in the day last week to see whether Arena Flowers may be interested in exhibiting last minute. Apparently, a couple of other London florists had let her down at the eleventh hour, and the show was left conspicuously missing wedding flowers from the burgeoning list of exhibitors for the show in Raynes Park, south west London.

Our florists were more than happy to rise to the challenge, and Judith got her thinking cap on while I started knocking together some promotional literature. With the flowers arriving freshly picked from Holland very early Saturday morning; our wedding florists Judith, Andrzej and Paulina got to work at the crack of dawn to create not one but four beautiful wedding bouquets for the show, as well as three coordinating buttonholes, two table arrangements and a gorgeous cascading tall vase display.

Once completed, the next challenge was to very carefully pack the wedding flowers so they weren’t damaged in delivery. With two drivers and an anxious florist overseeing the operation, it was a real eye-opener to see that as much care and strategic planning go into the delivery as do with the actual creation of wedding flowers!

Leaving just after 9am, it was straight to Raynes Park in the van with our rather lovely driver Jacek who put up with me in the passenger seat as I tried to prepare best I could for the unknown! On the way through Barnes I spotted a heron stalking the Barn Elms football pitches, just a few feet from the busy thoroughfare – wasn’t expecting that…but it kind of reminded me of my mission – a lone stalker, drawing in those brides to my lair of sumptuous wedding flowers!

Met with a huge bottleneck queue of cars and vans outside the venue, we made the decision to quit the extraordinary wait and frantically carry our booty the final 100 yards, heave them up the vast stairs (no lift!!!) and set up our pitch for the day with just an hour to spare before the doors opened to the public.

As soon as the show started, the event was packed with excited brides-to-be, mums, fiancées, bridesmaids and other womenfolk eagerly sourcing wedding garb and accoutrements from start to finish. Located right next to the entertainment, we found ourselves in a prime spot and, although a little deafened by the steel band (!!), the Arena Weddings stand was kept populated by interested parties and potential clients throughout the day. There was also the odd glass of plonk to entice visitors to my side of the ‘pond’…later polished off by me and a few other dry-of-mouth wedding suppliers located nearby.

The event seemed to go quickly and I was particularly pleased with the interest our wedding flowers arrangements generated, especially as this was pretty much new territory for us and a few miles out from the comfort zone of Flowers HQ! With online enquiries already coming in off the back of our first event, I am confident that we may be returning to the London Wedding Show circuit again soon – but perhaps with a bit more advance notice next time!

Interestingly, there were two common questions asked by visitors to the show: ‘Are they real flowers?’ and ‘How can I keep my wedding flowers budget down?’. To answer the first question, yes – all our flowers are real (maybe some of our flowers look just too perfect!), fresh and – wherever possible – ethically sourced. As regards budgeting for your wedding flowers, that’s for my next blog post – coming soon!

The wedding flowers on display at the Think Pink Wedding show last Saturday were: Amnesia roses, Cool water roses, Schwarzwalder calla lilies bridal bouquet (from £65), guest table arrangement (from £50) and buttonhole (from £7.50); Cool water roses, Limbo roses, Sea holly / thistles bridal bouquet (from £65); Sweet Avalanche and Sea holly bridal bouquet (from £65) and buttonhole (£7.50); Orchid cascade bridal bouquet (from £120), vase arrangement (from £26) and buttonhole (£7.50); and large mixed vase display including while lilies, pink mini gerberas, sea holly, sweet avalanche roses, limbo roses, carnations, and completed with soft ruscus and bear grass (from £80 plus vase hire).

Click here for a quick movie of the Arena Flowers stand at the Think Pink Wedding Show

If you enjoyed this post, you may want to check out our recent blog post on Winter Wedding Flowers, or learn more about our team of dedicated Wedding Florists or perhaps see how Arena Weddings began, with Jackie’s original blog post!

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Just three good reasons to mosey on down to the David Lloyd Health & Fitness Club in Raynes Park, South West London today (Saturday 24 January) where yours truly will be exhibiting the floral fineries of our rapidly growing wedding flowers arm Arena Weddings at the Wear It Pink Wedding Show.

On display will be some of Judith (one of our award-winning florists)’s beautiful floral work especially created for this very special wedding fair in aid of Breakthrough Breast Cancer. The arrangements have also been designed with seasonal, ethically sourced flowers and take into consideration today’s tough economic climate, which has had an impact on wedding budgets up and down the country this year.

We at Arena Flowers want to make sure every bride feels like a princess without breaking the bank on their wedding flowers, making us the first choice for wedding planners throughout London and the South East. So it’s no wonder we’re fast becoming one of Cosmo Bride’s favourite stockists!

And talking of princesses and the glossies, come along to the event and you will also get the chance to view a stunning private collection of vintage wedding dresses dating from Victorian times, including a sample from Princess Diana’s iconic wedding gown.

Come join the fun from 11am-4pm. Entry fee is just £1 – which goes direct to Breakthrough Breast Cancer – and kids go free, so no excuses if you’re in town!

Wear It Pink Wedding Show
David Lloyd Health & Fitness Club
Bushey Road,
Raynes Park
London SW20 8TE
Click for directions

Full report with piccies to be posted next week – but if you need an immediate wedding flower fix, check out this post, this post or even this post about sourcing flowers for gothic wedding bouquets. Bride-tastic!

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• Fancy a Twitter with Britney?

- The Sun, 10th January 2009

• How boring: Celebrities sign up to Twitter to reveal the most mundane aspect of their lives

- Daily Mail, 3rd January 2009

• Twitter set for its mainstream telly moment on Jonathan Ross’s comeback show

- Guardian, 7th January 2009

What started as a trickle at the end of last year has become a deluge in the New Year, with headlines in the most popular newspapers in the UK showing incontrovertibly that Twitter has moved into the UK mainstream this year and established itself as the papers’ latest web darling.  Their interest is doubtless due, at least in part, to celebrity “tweeters” – celebs sell newspapers, so the papers are going where the celebs are and trying to grab some “Twitter scoops”.

Recently Jemima Kiss, a prominent blogger and journalist, revealed Jonathan Ross’s intention to discuss the service with keen Twitterer and web aficionado Stephen Fry on his first show back from suspension.   Yesterday, the Times Online made a story out of another of Ross’s “tweets”, publishing an article about his “announcement” that he would be hosting this year’s Bafta Awards.  There’s no end of celeb twittering going on, so if you’ve always wanted to know what John Cleese had for breakfast or are desperate to learn how Lance Armstrong’s comeback is going then here’s your chance.

There have been a few “bah humbug” articles too (hey, this is the British media after all) – work place concerns focus on how Twitter may hinder productivity, whilst some media sources simply complain about the lack of juicy gossip from celebrity tweeters.

We twitter too.  So we figured we’d share some of our thoughts on Twitter and Web 2.0.  In 2007 we launched our blog with a post explaining why we would be blogging.  Basically, as a new business in the impersonal online world we felt the blog would help give us a more human a voice, would enable us to communicate more personally with our customers, and would allow us to share interesting or fun insights or snippets on flowers and the online world more generally.

Since we started blogging, the “Web 2.0” movement and the social web have expanded significantly, offering additional channels and tempos of communication to complement the “older” channels.  The most obvious change is that the flow of communication is no longer as one directional or contrived as it once was. New media, to differing extents, encourage a balanced and more frequent communication between businesses and customers / visitors.

The most important difference though, in our opinion, is that new media channels enable real time, easy going contact between parties in a way that has never been possible before.  Historically, interactions between a business and a customer have been about hard nosed selling by the business and the making of informed purchasing decisions by the customer.  Social media communications are, in most cases, far more laid back.  If old media channels are like a full on business meeting in the office, then Web 2.0 channels are more like the “getting to know you” drink in the pub afterwards.  Consequently, the conversations are sometimes utterly inane and pointless but it doesn’t really matter as there’s not so much pressure on the communication to deliver immediately or at all (at least not as far as we’re concerned).

Many prominent brands have embraced Web 2.0 channels, with varying degrees of success.  Some examples of doing it right:

• Last year the web world was abuzz with the news that Top Shop, one of the UK’s leading high street fashion retailers, was getting 5% of its online visitors from MySpace. (“But is it good traffic?”, mutters my inner marketeer);
• One famously early adopter of Twitter was the popular US-based shoe retailer Zappos. Of their 1600 odd employees, 453 of them are actively on Twitter listening, engaging and responding to customer concerns;
• US-based low cost carrier JetBlue is on Twitter and has earned kudos from customers as their Twitter responses are often faster than those their customer service team;
• More recently, Dell reported $1 million worth of sales from Twitter alone. Although this number is miniscule in comparison to Dell’s overall revenue, it does offer plenty of brand exposure (eg us writing about them here).

The intangible value social media can add to a business is thought to be high. Guy Kawasaki, an early exponent of evangelism marketing who, in his capacity as chief evangelist for Apple, was responsible for creating a number of passionate user-advocates for the Apple brand, describes Twitter as one of the best new marketing tools of the century.  Of course, PR departments of big companies always produce a lot of hot air about such trendy initiatives, trying to push how cutting edge and down with the kids their brand is, so any such figures or self-congratulatory back-slapping press releases should always be taken with a pinch of salt.

Speaking for Arena, we have seen real benefits from our blog, our Facebook application (Flowers & Fun) and from our Twitter feed, and all at low cost.  However, anyone who tells you these channels will change your business overnight is talking rubbish (and may be trying to sell you something you don’t need – caveat emptor!).  There may also be a danger that with more and more people engaging with such channels, that the value will drowned out by the additional noise.

Nonetheless, we think it’s clear that Web 2.0 and new media channels can undoubtedly add value in many ways to any sized business.  As well as being informative, engaging with social media can also be just plain fun, and even eye opening on occasion.  A lot of the things we’ve found out or leads that we’ve picked were totally unexpected or from left field, and that’s one of the most rewarding aspects of Twitter; such serendipity can’t, by definition, be planned or manufactured.  On which note, here’s a final example of the unpredictable path that twittering can take: Let’s all ‘sue Telegraph’, say Twitterers.

UPDATE: For those that live on the other side of the world, the point about Twitter having arrived was made a million times better than this post by the first pic of the Hudson River plane landing appearing first on Twitterpic.

Some Useful Twitter Resources:

• 10 ways to use Twitter to Promote you Business
• 17 Ways You Can Use Twitter: A Guide for Beginners, Marketers and Business Owners
• Guardian list of Celebrities on Twitter (constantly updated)
• How companies use Twitter to bolster their brands
• How to use Twitter to grow your business
• List of Businesses on Twitter
• List of UK Businesses on Twitter
• Why Twitter should matter to you: Twustomer service edition

If you liked this post, you may enjoy reading our other posts on Social Media: Flowers in the Social Networking Arena & Send Free Flowers on Facebook.

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Steve and I were in The Netherlands end of last week, visiting Ronald and catching up on the progress of Arena Bloemen and Arena Blumen, as well making more preparations for Valentine’s Day.  It was a mite chilly here in good old Blighty, but we soon learned that our European cousins hadn’t got off any more lightly.  It was absolutely freezing; so cold in fact (-20C in places) that we suspended deliveries to East Germany last week as flowers were (sometimes) arriving frozen – not ideal.

Driving through the glacial Dutch countryside we saw some beautiful sights;  the sky laden with thick claustrophobic clouds; the land and trees covered in a crisp icey sheen; and the famous canals frozen over, as hard as tarmac.  Ever resourceful, the Dutch have turned the cold weather to their advantage, with what seems like every bit of frozen water having been repurposed as an impromptu ice rink.  I figured I’d share some pictures here.  Click images to enlarge.

Ducks on ice + archetypal windmill

Steve: “I caught a fish this big…”

Might be worth avoiding the unfrozen section of the “frozen” lake, kids…

Surprised the car’s engine worked under that much ice…

Ice hockey, anyone?

Start em young…

Hope you enjoyed the pics.  I’m rubbish with my phone’s camera so sorry if these aren’t very” pro” shots!

Enjoyed this post? Read Een Voorspoedig, Gezond en Gelukkig Nieuwjaar gewenst! team’s take on weather.  Our German customer service team had a torrid time dealing with complaints for delivering frozen flowers.  Read Alle Jahre wieder – Neujahrsvorsätze for more on frozen flowers.

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Getting hitched in the chilly months of winter doesn’t mean that you need to compromise on your winter wedding flowers.  Although relatively rare compared to summer weddings, winter ceremonies can indeed benefit from all the sparkle and glamour of the party season, with family and friends close to hand for the festive period. Wedding planners will normally recommend against sourcing for the low season as flowers can be much more expensive, and less available. However, if you’re all set for marriage in December, January or February – Arena is here to guide you in making the most of your winter wedding.

If you look out into the garden, it may seem that the selection of winter flowers is limited, but many varieties are available all year round. For instance, roses, lilies and carnations – the nation’s favourite wedding flowers – may traditionally be known as summer flowers but they can be found in virtually any colour throughout the year. Winter weddings may also be brightened by using lilies or chrysanthemums. Again both of these are a popular choice and are available all year round so you will not have to worry about breaking the bank when it comes to choosing your wedding flowers.

While the prices for winter wedding flower bouquets may run a bit on the high side, there are some great seasonal bargains to be found. For a real festive touch, what better than red or white amaryllis for an extra showy effect (as illustrated by our bridal bouquets above), or perhaps even poinsettia, holly or winter berries – mixing with winter evergreens such as firs and spruce.

Alternatively, there are also many varieties of lilies or orchids that make beautifully exotic winter wedding flower arrangements (as illustrated by our bridal bouquets below) and won’t necessarily cost you an arm and a leg. An exotic or tropical themed wedding in the bleak midwinter can make a lovely break from the cold.

Fire & Ice – Decorating Your Winter Wedding Flowers

Winter Bridal Bouquets
Winter white or very light ivory flatter any bride’s skin tone, and make the perfect canvas for bright, bold colours – bringing life to an otherwise monochromatic winter hues. When selecting a theme for your winter wedding flowers, a favourite choice is to opt for shades of white, rich greens and tones of copper or red and burgundy.

Buttonholes, Boutonnieres & Corsages
Continue a seasonal theme with spray roses coupled with holly and/or berries, or alternatively take the low season as an opportunity to experiment with exotic flowers such as orchids or asiatic lilies.

Flowers for the Ceremony & Reception
If opting for a ceremony in December or early January, it is likely that the wedding or reception venue will already be decorated in red and green for seasonal events however you do not need to feel constricted by these colour schemes. Metallics and whites will complement your festive setting, while extra colour can be added by lightly spraying petals with glitter to add that little extra winter sparkle.

Candles are highly recommended for adding warmth and glow to any venue, and decorating your winter wedding flowers with light or crystal embellishments also brightening your scheme. Mirrors, glass pebbles and baubles will add a glamorous touch to table decorations for your wedding reception. Wax apples, pine cones or cinnamon sticks will also add an extra festive feel to your centrepiece arrangements. For more ideas and inspiration for your wedding flowers visit our online portfolio.

Seasonal Availability & Christmas Flower Prices

In this day and age of under soil heating and imports from as far afield as Africa and Asia, most flowers are available to buy in the UK all seasons. However, the more ethically aware bride may have issues with the perceived carbon emissions associated with their availability – as well as inflated marketed prices over the Christmas period! Sadly, it is likely that wholesale prices for some flowers are set at a much higher market price then at other times of the year because of the increased demand for them for festive flower arrangements – something florists cannot control.

However, here’s a list of winter and all-year-round availability without the need for vastly inflated prices or air miles: Agapanthus, Alstromeria, Amaryllis, Anemone, Anthurium, Aster, Bouvardia, Calla Lily, Carnation, Chrysanthemum, Craspedia, Cymbidium Orchid, Euphorbia, Freesia, Gerbera, Gloriosa, Gypsophila, Heliconia, Hyacinth, Iris, Leucospermum, Lily (Asiatic & Oriental), Lisianthus, Muscari, Narcissus (Daffodil), Nymphaea, Ornithogalum, Phalaenopsis Orchid, Phlox, Poinsettia, Ranunculus, Rose, Sunflower, Strelitzia, Tulip, Veronica.

If you enjoyed this post, you may also enjoy this one about about our family summer wedding, or perhaps this post about spring wedding flowers or even this one about getting the best from your wedding photography.

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Happy New Year to everyone!

We’ve been a bit quiet on the blog of late, what with having to get all our Christmas flower deliveries sorted and having to do some very very last minute Christmas shopping of our own too. We’re back in the saddle now, looking forward to 2009 and will be posting more regularly going forward. Meantime, here are five random New Year’s resolutions (in no particular order):

1. More charitable initiatives: We’ve supported a number of charitable initiatives in the past, but haven’t been that organised in our approach.  Hopefully in the next week or two, we’ll go live with a very cool new initiative.  Watch this space.
2. Focus Focus Focus for Valentine’s Day: Everyone thinks florists make a fortune selling Valentine’s flowers.  Sadly not; it’s the flower growers that really rake it in, as flower prices can quadruple (or more) for the big day.   Getting Valentine’s right is a real head ache for florists as so much can go wrong and cause disaster.  All rather stressful.  Still, Valentine’s Day is on a Saturday this year so it should be quieter, with less traffic on the roads.  Hooray!
3. Keep building our international businesses: The team also runs Arena Bloemen and Arena Blumen, fulfilling from our base in Holland and delivering the same experience for Benelux and German flower lovers as we do for UK flower lovers.  This year, we’ll focus on building up our international businesses and optimising the operating model to deliver great value and quality across Europe.
4. Green initiatives and FFP: We were the first florists to sell Fair Flowers Fair Plants flowers and we want to expand our FFP range as it’s not broad enough.  We also want to be more transparent about improvements in the green areas of our business, like recycling and green waste.  Adarsh has done some great work here recently, but just hasn’t had time to write up what he’s been up to.
5. The customer is king: Last but not least! We’ve got no business without happy customers, so our top resolution for this year, as with every other, is to keep making sure we do the best job we possibly can and delight our customers.  If you have any suggestions of how we can improve, please send them to feedback(at)arenaflowers.com or leave a comment below.
6. Fun!: A bonus 6th resolution is to remember life is fun and not to be taken too seriously.  In that vein, and for those that didn’t see it in our Arena Flowers Twitter feed, here’s an alternative take on the phrase “Arena Flowers” that we found on the web through our Google Alerts. The artist named the piece “Arena Flowers” entirely coincidentally and described it thus:

Batch of for-fun character designs! The concept is a group of young ladies with no predisposition towards this activity for various reasons find themselves involved in wizardly pit fights.

See his Arena Flowers in full here.

Happy New Year, Everyone!

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It’s my birthday today.  Hooray!  Birthday flowers, birthday balloons, birthday greetings cards all round!  Oh, and I’ll have some “healthy” chocolate too – I am getting old after all. Right – that’s the search engine optimisation bit out of the way.  I’m 33 today. Ouch!  11 years til my next symmetrical birthday.  Best enjoy this one while I can.  Apparently I share the date with Britney Spears.  Hmmm.  Hardly Albert Einstein or William Shakespeare, but hey, beggars can’t be choosers.

The thing I like about my birthday is that it signals (to me only, obviously) that Christmas is officially on its way.  Before the 2nd December, I see the decorations go up, I hear the people moaning about the adverts on telly but it all just slides over me and doesn’t go in.  It might as well be another language.  That is until the 2nd of Dec when my birthday comes round and I start to get into the swing of it.  Maybe it’s the card that I get from my grand mother every year that kick starts the good will – 85 years old and every year a card with a £20 note appears on my doorstep like clockwork.  Doesn’t matter how old you are, you’ll always enjoy receiving a card with a £20 note in it. :)

Anyway, my unerring march towards old age gives me the opportunity to point out that our Christmas flowers range is live and kicking and bigger and better than ever.  Among last year’s most popular were the alternative Christmas Tulips, the traditional Christmas Basket and the Winter Reds Christmas cube.  Of course if you want to impress and / or upstage your siblings by sending the biggest and best, then you can’t do much better than go for the Christmas Celebration. It’s the Daddy. Or Father Christmas. Sorry. That was terrible.

So what’s with the bicycle picture?  Well, that’s back to my birthday.  Having woken up way too early I decided that rather than go back to sleep and pretend I’m still 21 I’d brave the sub zero London weather and frosty roads in a vain attempt to prove to myself that I’m not over the hill.  So I decided on a 13 mile round trip to Tower Bridge on my bike, along the Embankment.  During peak flower delivery periods it’s all hands to the pumps at Arena, and we all get out on the road delivering, typically on frosty London days like today’s.  So my early morning ride was a nice reminder of fun days past.  Hopefully when I next get the chance to take more pics like this during the Christmas rush, I’ll be in a nice warm van and not on my bicycle.

Merry Christmas shopping!

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We always have such fun organising wedding flowers – what could give anyone more pleasure than organising beautiful flowers to make a bride’s day even more perfect?  Well that is what I thought until it came to organising flowers for my own daughter’s wedding in July!

To be fair to her, she wasn’t really being difficult – just that she was marrying a Scot and wanted to have the traditional theme of an English rose and Scottish thistle carried through the wedding flowers – as it had been on all the wedding stationery.  Katharine was also absolutely set on white roses with a touch of pink at the tips for her bouquet and venue flowers.

Then she came in to meet Judith, our head wedding florist who designs the most amazing bouquets and arrangements, and everything changed…

Andre makes a start on a pedestal arrangement

…adding some peach roses to complete the effect

One of the church arrangements

The white roses were discarded in favour of our lovely peach roses, as they were more in keeping with her French lace wedding dress.  Judith spent hours discussing exactly what she would like with flowers, with books, drawings, scraps of material, foliage and bridal magazines littering the table. Luckily our florists’ benches are really large.

Then we discovered that thistles are not considered to be bona fide flowers by Sassenachs, but simply as weeds!  This meant that it was impossible to get the genuine thistles that she wanted for the buttonholes and table arrangements. However, we settled on sea holly – Eryngium – as being the closest we could get to a thistle, so that was one problem solved.

Judith and Pawlina make the pew ends

Then Katharine wanted balls of flowers hanging from the ceiling of the marquee – ‘No problem’, said Andre, our head florist.  Judith decided that as we were having a Ceilidh – Scottish reels – in the evening we needed a giant thistle on the stage, and so started planning the flowers she would need to create it.

This thistle made from flowers stood fully 1 metre tall

And then we needed some large arrangements to indicate the entrance to the marquee – trees made of flowers were the obvious choice – to her, at least!

After some quite detailed discussions, all was finalised and Judith and Andre made enormously long lists of flowers that they needed from Holland and we sat back to let it all happen.

Table Arrangements: Before and After the Arena Touch

Judith and Andre started work on the Thursday before the wedding on Saturday and made all the large church arrangements, pew ends and table arrangements in advance. Early on Friday morning, two Arena vans pitched up and disgorged huge amounts of flowers into the marquee.

Judith then started work on her own -  making bouquets, buttonholes, wonderful arrangements for the marquee, flower balls, flower trees, and cake decorations – so many flowers it was quite overwhelming!

Arrangements all ready on the tables and flower trees in place

In the afternoon all the church flowers were taken to the church to set them up and then it was back to the marquee for an evening’s work. Judith was then later joined by Andre and they worked into the early hours of the morning, transforming the marquee and creating the most fantastic wedding flowers.  When we got up in the morning, everything was ready and looking simply stunning.

All that remained was for the weather to change. It had rained and rained and rained and… at about half past ten the sun broke through and the day got better and better until, by the time of the wedding the sun was shining brightly, the sky was a clear bright blue and it was the most perfect English summer day to celebrate our only daughter’s wedding.

As one of my sons remarked to me (and I think he spoke for all of us), it was the happiest day of his life.

To see more great pictures from the wedding – and pictures of weddings of some of our non family clients -  visit our Real Wedding Photos & Feedback gallery. If you would like Arena Weddings to create perfect wedding flowers for your special day, you can contact me direct on 020 8896 8693 or email weddings@arenaflowers.com with your requirements.

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You might have noticed that I have been quite conspicuous by my absence from the Arena Flowers Blog for the last month or so. No, I’m not planning a wedding myself (!!) but have been beavering away with our all-new Arena Weddings microsite which, in itself, has become quite a labour of love!

If you’re lucky enough to be getting married this coming spring, then October is traditionally the month to begin planning your special day – so you can get on with enjoying the Christmas party season.  So, you’ve set a date for the ceremony; booked the venues; arranged the photographer; procrastinated over the fluctuating guest list and perhaps even chosen a planner to coordinate it all – but don’t neglect to plan your wedding flowers!

With years of experience of creating the perfect wedding flowers, our florists have an unbeatable reputation for creating stunning, contemporary designs and traditional arrangements to suit even the tightest of wedding budget. They are also ethically sourced wherever possible, too!

With this experience and social responsibility, we have naturally accumulated a burgeoning visual history and portfolio of our bespoke wedding flowers, created specifically to the requirements of our brides.

Over the next week or so, we will be bringing you a wealth of wedding-themed blog posts to help you through the planning stages of your special day – from tips and hints, through to our own experiences of planning beautiful, fresh wedding flowers the Arena way.

In the meantime, take a browse through our extensive portfolio of bespoke and designer wedding flowers and simply give us a call on 0800 0350 581 to discuss your wedding flowers requirements, email weddings@arenaflowers.com or use our new enquiry form for a totally personalised service and quote – and our wedding team will delighted to help…

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Something we learnt quite quickly after setting up Arena is that, if you run a business then it seems you’re fair game and people will make up outrageous claims to try and get money out of you.  It may be down to the idea that “Well, they’re a company so they won’t bother wasting time refuting anything and they’ll just let their insurance pay up.”  Or there’s the very real fact that insurance companies tend to want to “settle” in favour of the member of the public, all other things being equal.  At Arena, we totally disagree with the “just pay out” attitude and will do what we can to make sure that spurious personal injury claims don’t get paid out as, at the end of the day, it’s a form of theft and it drives up costs for everyone, which eventually means customers.  And no one wants that!

The reason I chose to write this post up is because a good example came up where a bit of driver training saved us £10k on a claim that was about to be paid out by the insurance company.  A while back one of our drivers, “Little Mariusz”, had a small knock on the left wing of his van from a car that pulled into his lane.  There was no damage to our van and only very minor damage to the other car (see below).  The police came and said there was nothing to report and, as our van wasn’t damaged, we had no issue.  The lady driving the other car was fine and walking about for the 20 mins it took to resolve.  So far so good.

We then received a letter from our insurance agent a few weeks later saying that there was a new claim for £10k and could we please respond to it.  When we realised that it was this same incident we were scratching our heads.  What was the personal injury?  Apparently whiplash.  Impressive, given it was a sideways knock at about about 5mph.  We said that this was clearly absurd, it was not our fault and pointed out that this had been agreed, orally, at the time.  Ah, but the other driver has a witness statement, was the response.  Furthermore, on the basis of this witness statement, your insurance company wants to settle in the other driver’s favour (despite the facts at the time saying something totally different). Erm, can we at least see the witness statement first please, was our reply.

When the witness statement came through, it was from an individual who was not present at the scene (he certainly didn’t speak or make himself known to the police or Mariusz during the 20 mins Mariusz was there).  And then when we read the statement, a brilliant moment – the diagram and description above form the main part of the witness statement.  The statement suggests that the witness was standing right next to our van, which he said was in the left hand lane, and that our van pulled out and hit the car, which he said was in the right hand lane.  However, the photos taken at the scene clearly show that our van was actually on the right hand side of the car, not the left hand side, because the damage is on the right hand side of the car, not the left hand side.  So effectively, the “witness”, who claimed to be standing right next to the incident, actually managed to get his story completely the wrong way round.  One would think that if you’re going to invent a witness statement to try and get a personal injury payout, you could at least get the facts in the hokey statement correct!  Mixing up left and right is pretty basic stuff.

Clearly, in most circumstances, you won’t be so lucky to have a fake claim against you be so clearly falsified.  What to do in these circumstances?  Well, given, as mentioned above, that insurance companies will typically just “settle” unless you can prove that a claim is fake, it pays to follow a few basic steps to in the event of an accident.  Here are the simple things that we ask our drivers to do in the event of any collision (on the basis of advice from our insurers and our own additions) – every driver has a sheet with these instructions in their van at all times:

• Obtain contact, vehicle and insurance details of other driver(s).
• Obtain contact details of any witnesses.  It is important to get witnesses as otherwise fake witnesses can appear at a later date.
• Take lots of photos, of vehicles, witnesses, registrations etc. Lots! Photos don’t cost money and the one you thought might suffice might be blurry.  Take lots!
• Take the name and badge number of any police officer that attends the scene.  Even the suggestion of police involvement can cause chancers to melt away, as we’ve seen before.
• Do not admit responsibility (even if it’s your fault), especially not in writing, as you could then be liable for any subsequent damage to the vehicle in totally unrelated incidents.  Admitting responsibility can be a bit like writing a blank cheque. Just stick to the facts without expressing an opinion. Insurers will determine liability and this can vary depending on circumstances.
• Do not proceed with non-urgent repairs until permission has been granted by insurers.  An inspection of damage may be needed.

Another key is not to be British and say “no harm done, off we go” and neglect to take the above simple steps as your politeness could cost you a lot afterwards.  The above is hardly rocket science but it can save a huge amount of money, for both businesses and individuals.  A small ding on someone else’s car (their fault) could have cost us £10k and very nearly did.  This is not small beer and would undoubtedly have pushed up the insurance premium for every one of our 9 vans when our policy was up for renewal. It would have cost us thousands.  Hopefully, in the unfortunate event that you’re involved in an incident, following the same steps could save you money (and hassle) too.

PS as ever, the disclaimer is that we’re not a legal firm so don’t take the above as watertight legal advice.  They’re just our internal guidelines which we thought might be of interest. :)

Similar Posts: If you liked this post you may find our other post How to Beat Illegal Car Clamping Scammers – And Save £300 and our other posts on fraud and ne’er do wells interesting.

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